


A Permanent Home

by Skye_Maxwell



Category: Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Christmas Tree, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, Dorks in Love, Established Relationship, Family Feels, Fluff, Holiday Fic Exchange, Holidays, Humor, Kissing, Love, M/M, Married Couple, New Family, Romance, Suggestive Themes, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:41:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28162608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skye_Maxwell/pseuds/Skye_Maxwell
Summary: It’s Souyo’s first Christmas with their newly-adopted son, Akira, and because they’re big saps who love their little boy very much, they’re totally gonna overdo it.
Relationships: Hanamura Yosuke/Narukami Yu, Hanamura Yosuke/Seta Souji
Comments: 18
Kudos: 72
Collections: Souyo Secret Santa Gift Exchange 2020





	A Permanent Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [artikgato](https://archiveofourown.org/users/artikgato/gifts).



> HI ARTI! When I saw your adoption prompt, my first thought was having them adopt Akira, but I didn’t want to make their kid someone you wouldn’t like, so I hardcore stalked your Tumblr and found that you had tagged a Relxion AU with “i love this au,” the one where Souyo adopts Akira (which I also love)! So here we are! Also I threw in 1.5 of your other prompts. XD Merry Christmas, and I hope this makes you happy. ^_^ ♥️

Souji and Yosuke adored their newly-adopted son, Akira, even if they couldn’t quite tell yet if he was happy living with them. They had both taken extended time off of work to welcome Akira into their home and adjust to their new family dynamic, and while they’d been together a few weeks now, Akira rarely showed signs of becoming more comfortable with them. Akira still walked around cautiously like he was in a stranger’s home instead of his own, he never asked Souji or Yosuke for anything, and he barely even spoke. 

Still, he didn’t necessarily seem _unhappy,_ so Souji and Yosuke hoped he would warm up to them with time. They never pushed him too far out of his comfort zone though—he’d already had enough of that in his life. That was why they had decided to celebrate the winter holidays with just the three of them this year. They would usually visit Inaba in late December, but they didn’t want Akira to be overwhelmed by a new setting and a bunch of new faces all at once. While they would miss spending time with their families and friends, they certainly weren’t upset about keeping their precious little boy to themselves for a little while longer. 

While Akira didn’t say much (the most they’d ever heard him talk was during his nightly prayers, but they didn’t listen in on those because they seemed private), he seemed to prefer to always have an activity to do, whether it was coloring (outside the lines, though Yosuke was suspicious he did that on purpose), building palaces out of colorful blocks, or staging (what looked like) epic battles with Souji’s Featherman action figures. 

Akira also loved to watch TV and was able to focus on his favorite programs for hours without moving (besides the usual fidgeting). Featherman was a favorite, of course, along with most of the cartoons aimed at kids his age, but interestingly enough, he also loved crime dramas, nature shows (especially the one that focused on big cats), and most recently, Christmas movies—the cheesier, the better. 

When Akira had been watching a campy holiday film with particularly wide eyes, Yosuke had asked what Akira might like for Christmas, and Akira blurted out, “Tree.” 

He pointed a little finger at the screen, and on it was a gigantic, beautifully decorated Christmas tree. 

Souji and Yosuke had immediately looked at each other across the room and nodded, because even though they had personally never put up a Christmas tree, if their boy wanted one—especially if their boy wanted one enough to _ask_ for it—they sure as hell were putting up a Christmas tree. 

“Done,” Souji had said, and Akira looked up at him, mouth gaping. 

“Really?” he asked, and then he looked to Yosuke beside him on the couch. “We can… really have a Christmas tree?” 

“Yeah, of course!” Yosuke confirmed with a smile, placing a hand on Akira’s shoulder. “We’ll all pick it out and put it up together, okay? It’ll be fun! Does that sound good to you?” 

Akira seemed to remember to be shy then, clasping his hands together in his lap and staring down at them. 

Souji then came over and kneeled in front of Akira, looking up at his face. “We can do that tomorrow if you’d like. Yosuke and I would both really enjoy spending the day with you picking out the perfect tree and getting to decorate it with you. Is that okay?” 

Akira stared down at Souji’s face and seemed to think about it for a few seconds before slowly nodding. 

Souji smiled warmly, and Akira gave a dazed little smile back. Then he reached out and touched Yosuke’s leg before turning to inform him: “We’re getting a Christmas tree.” 

Yosuke laughed and quickly, gently ruffled Akira’s hair. “Yes, we are.” 

* * *

They spent the day buying way too many holiday decorations, festive outfits for all three of them, and last but not least, the biggest Christmas tree they could viably fit in their living room. 

Getting the tree inside had been a struggle (they’d had to cut the top a bit so it wasn’t scraping the ceiling), but after that they spent the afternoon decorating their behemoth of a tree. They took a break in the evening, and Souji cooked dinner and baked cookies, which they all enjoyed under the kotatsu while watching a particularly sappy Christmas movie. Akira didn’t make it to the end of the movie though, falling asleep on an empty plate of cookies that he’d eaten all by himself. 

While Souji picked up the dishes, Yosuke had wiped the crumbs off of Akira’s face, taken the elf hat off his head, and carried him to bed. 

When he returned from tucking Akira in, he found Souji back at decorating, still having a full box of decorations to find a place for. He was holding the angel they’d bought and peering at the top of the tree with a look of deep contemplation. 

“We should have gotten a smaller tree, huh?” Souji sighed. 

Yosuke shrugged. “You live and you learn. Let’s save the angel for when Akira’s awake though, okay? We should all finish the tree together.” 

Souji hummed in agreement. “You’re right.” 

“How about we take a break from decorating, Partner? We’ve been at it for hours now. It looks like the North Pole threw up in here.” 

“Break?” Souji said, looking from Yosuke to the box of decorations. 

He had always been better at seeing projects through to their completion than Yosuke. 

But Yosuke had always been better about taking breaks. 

“Guess I’ll have to make you!” Yosuke decided, moving toward Souji and taking the angel from his hands. He set her face-down on top of a cabinet (to shield her pure, heavenly eyes), and then he pushed Souji onto the couch. 

A few minutes later, Souji and Yosuke both giggled quietly as Yosuke, straddling Souji’s lap, tied Souji’s hands over his head with a cheap strand of gold garland. 

“It’s _itchy,”_ Souji complained through a chuckle, used to being tied up with much softer, smoother materials. 

“Too bad,” Yosuke breathed, finishing up by tying the garland in a little bow. “You’re _my_ present.”

“Hey, Yosuke? What do you want for Christmas? I’m asking because… I’m wearing a Santa hat… and you’re sitting on my lap… pfft,” Souji laughed, almost losing it. 

“That’s not a sexy thought at all, you weirdo,” Yosuke said, using one hand to pin Souji’s tied wrists against the wall and the other to grip Souji’s shoulder. 

“Sorry. Sexy thoughts. My bad,” Souji apologized half-heartedly. 

Yosuke shook his head and bent down to kiss Souji, but before their lips met, Yosuke’s reindeer antlers slipped forward off his head, hitting Souji in the face. 

_“Shhhh,_ be quiet,” Yosuke hissed, even though he was also trying not to laugh as he plucked the antlers and Santa hat off of Souji and tossed them aside. 

“And if I don’t?” Souji challenged, eyes glinting. 

“You’re gonna wake Aki—” 

“Are you gonna put me on the naughty list?!” Souji interrupted, shaking with repressed laughter. 

Yosuke silently let go of Souji’s wrists and sat back in his lap, giving his Partner the dullest, most unamused look he could manage. 

“No, no, I’m sorry, please come back,” Souji whispered extra-quietly, lowering his hands to tug weakly on the front of Yosuke’s sweater. “Come here, kiss me.” 

“Hands up,” Yosuke ordered, and Souji’s hands flew right back over his head so Yosuke could pin them again. “Good. That’s how you get on the nice list.” 

Then he got a brilliant idea, and he turned to dig through the decoration box with one hand, only increasing Souji’s anticipation. 

He found what he was looking for and then pressed the leafy little plastic thing into Souji’s hands. 

“Hold that,” he instructed, and when Souji looked up to examine it, he realized it was the mistletoe they had bought. 

Yosuke made sure to cut off Souji’s potential laughing fit by roughly pushing their mouths together, making the back of Souji’s head thud softly against the back of the couch. 

Yosuke’s hand had barely traveled halfway up Souji’s ugly Christmas sweater when they heard a noise from the hallway, but by the time the sound of soft footsteps registered in their foggy brains, it was already entirely too late. 

When they finally had the presence of mind to pull apart and look sideways toward the hall, Akira was standing there, silently staring at them. 

No one made a sound or moved for a few seconds, leaving Souji and Yosuke to fully realize the awkwardness of being caught in such a compromising position by their new son. Akira was the first to move with a gentle tilt of his head, and then he just continued to stare them down unblinkingly. 

Yosuke broke the silence with a high-pitched, “Uhhhh, heh heh heh! UM!” 

Then Souji sprung into action, dumping Yosuke on the floor and then trying to escape his golden binds, to no avail unfortunately. 

While Souji struggled, Yosuke scrambled to his feet and picked up the nearest blanket (a big share-size one they’d just bought that had penguins and snowmen on it), unwadding it and throwing the whole thing over Souji, quite effectively covering his entire body from head to toe. 

“Hey, hi, hello there, Akira!” Yosuke said with a red face, trying to look casual. “What brings you out here at this _very late_ time of night?” 

Yosuke glanced at the blanketed lump on the couch, trying not to glare when he saw how much it was wiggling around—Souji was still trying to free himself under there. 

Akira asked, “What were you guys doing?” 

“Doing?!” Yosuke shrieked, before trying to play it cool. “Oh, uh, we were just… we were just…” 

“Kissing,” Souji answered, his head popping out from under the blanket. 

“R-right. Just a little bit of… kissing…” Yosuke said, looking like he wanted to throw himself (or maybe Souji) out the window. 

“Why?” Akira asked. 

“Ahahaha, you’re almost as blunt as this guy,” Yosuke laughed nervously. “Eh, _why_ were we doing that, Partner?” 

Looking straight at Akira, Souji said flatly, “Because we love each other.” 

Just as flatly, Akira said, “Okay.” 

“Oh, that’s it?” Yosuke blurted out, surprised it had been that easy. 

Souji’s foot popped out from under the blanket and kicked Yosuke in the shin. 

As Yosuke swallowed his curse words and sunk onto the other end of the couch, Souji asked gently, “Is there anything we can do for you, Akira?” 

“I’m thirsty.” 

“Oh, let me get you some water!” Yosuke said, jumping up and trying not to limp too much on his way to the kitchen. “It’s super important to stay hydrated, haha!” 

As soon as the two of them disappeared into the kitchen, Souji writhed extra hard, trying to break the garland, but even though it was cheap, Yosuke’s many knots stood firm. It was kind of hot, if he thought about it, how thorough Yosuke had been so that Souji wouldn't be able to get free… 

Souji tried to shake those thoughts, going still as Akira reentered the room with both hands around a big glass of ice water.

Yosuke was right behind him, saying, “If you ever need anything, you can just ask us! But since you can’t reach the fridge yourself, we can get you a step stool or something, and I can move some cups down from the higher cabinets. Does that sound good?” 

Akira looked up at Yosuke with big eyes and nodded, and Souji smiled at the sight. Yosuke was such a good dad—another thing for Souji to be attracted to. 

“Anything else we can do for you before you hit the sack?” Yosuke asked, and Akira shook his head. “All right, be careful with that water, kiddo. Have a good night!” 

Akira nodded once more before heading back to his room, looking very focused on not spilling his water. 

Yosuke stood patiently in the hall and watched Akira like a hawk until his bedroom door finally clicked shut, and then he rounded on his husband, who was now attempting to chew through the garland. 

Instead of lecturing him like he was tempted to, Yosuke just ordered, “Get your ass in the bedroom, _now.”_

Souji’s eyes lit up, and he removed the garland from his mouth, spitting out a few little stray gold pieces.

“Are we going to…?” he asked as he quickly rose from the couch and kicked the blanket out of his way. 

_“Very_ quietly,” Yosuke whispered sternly as he moved toward their bedroom and opened the door so Souji could go in. “Akira is going to have a single dad for Christmas if you so much as make a _peep.”_

Souji wondered briefly whether Yosuke was alluding to divorce or murder, but overall he was unfazed by the empty threat, scooting toward the bedroom and pausing by the door to give Yosuke a kiss. 

“Hot,” he whispered against Yosuke’s mouth, always having liked when Yosuke insisted on him staying quiet. 

Yosuke rolled his eyes as Souji, still bound, entered the bedroom and dove into their bed. 

_“Quiet,”_ Yosuke reiterated as he pulled the door closed and locked it.

Souji deadpanned, “Help. I can’t get my clothes off. Yosuke, help.” 

“Shut it, will you?!” 

* * *

The next afternoon, Akira was playing with his toys in his room, and Souji and Yosuke were in the living room playing a video game. 

It wasn’t until after Yosuke won a round and paused to gloat that they realized Akira was standing there at the entrance of the hallway again, silently staring at them. 

“H-hey, kiddo!” Yosuke said, trying not to think too hard about last night when Akira had caught them on the couch. “What’s up?” 

“What you said before, about kissing because you love each other…” Akira started, cutting straight to the chase and apparently not about to forget last night so easily, “…how do you know that you love someone?” 

Souji and Yosuke were taken aback by the question at first, but they tried their best to explain it in a way Akira could understand. Even so, trying to put into words how they knew they loved each other was quite a task, and they went back and forth for about ten minutes trying to pare down and yet encapsulate the full meaning of “love” for their curious little boy. 

Akira took it all in stride though, listening intently the whole time, and when they were done, he gave a single nod, as if he completely understood everything they had said. 

“Okay,” he said, and then he turned around and went back to his room without another word. 

Once Akira was out of earshot, Yosuke buried his face in his hands and said, “Shit. Did we just do a terrible job of explaining what love is to our son?” 

“It was adequate,” Souji replied. “Probably.” 

“Probably?!” Yosuke exclaimed, looking up at Souji. “He _probably_ thinks we’re a couple of morons!”

“He doesn’t think that,” Souji said even though he couldn’t truly be sure. “I wonder why he asked that, though.” 

“Yeah, it’s kind of a loaded question for a kid to be thinking about, right?” 

“Though Nanako used to ask me questions like that when she was little, big picture stuff.”

“I mean, I guess it’s natural for kids to wonder about those sorts of things.” 

“And what better place to go for answers than a trusted adult?” Souji realized, a small smile appearing on his face.

“You really think he trusts us?” Yosuke asked. “I’m not even sure he _likes_ us. Shit, Partner, he’s gonna _return_ us!” 

“We’re not the ones who got adopted, Yosuke.” 

“Hey, you know what? He kinda reminds me of you when we first met!”

“How so?” 

“I had to lay it on super thick just to be sure we were _friends,_ let alone all the later stuff.” 

“Is that how it went?” Souji asked, staring off into the distance as if he didn’t remember anything of the sort.

“You know it is! I know better now, but at the beginning there, I wasn’t sure you liked me at all!” 

Souji said blankly, “I didn’t.”

“Eff off, Narukami,” Yosuke grumbled, crossing his arms and pouting. 

Souji finally broke and chuckled a little. “Just kidding.” 

Yosuke only frowned harder in response, so Souji slid over and wrapped him in his arms so Yosuke would remember just how much he loved him. It worked like a charm, and Yosuke relaxed immediately, sighing as Souji rested his head on his chest. 

“How’d you deal with it?” Souji asked Yosuke’s heart, which was beating steadily beneath his cheek. 

“With not being sure how you felt about me?” Yosuke asked, and Souji nodded. “Well, I made sure you knew how _I_ felt, and then I gave you time to figure out how you felt. You came around eventually. So maybe Akira will be the same way.” 

“You may have given me time, but you sure didn’t give me space; you were always all over me,” Souji remembered fondly. 

“You liked it,” Yosuke said smugly. “And look how the tables have turned.” 

“How so?” Souji asked, as if he didn’t already know.

“You’re literally clinging to me right now!” 

“Hm, yeah,” Souji said happily. “Hey, Partner? Thanks for sticking it out.” 

Souji lifted his head to look up at Yosuke, and Yosuke kissed him. 

“It was worth it.” 

* * *

It was Christmas Eve night, and despite having asked Akira countless times what he wanted for Christmas, he had never given a specific answer after getting his Christmas tree. Souji and Yosuke had gotten him plenty of gifts, of course, the last of which they were planning on wrapping as soon as Akira was asleep. 

After making sure he had a glass of water, putting on a CD of music to fall asleep to, and tucking him in, Souji and Yosuke quietly made their way out of the room. They waited outside his door, waiting for his soft snores to start to make sure he wouldn’t hear them wrapping his gifts, but a few seconds after they closed the door, Akira drowsily launched into a prayer. 

“Dear God and all the angels!” he started with surprising enthusiasm, and the two of them elbowed each other at how adorable that was. “Thank you for my dads.”

Souji’s hand shot out to grip Yosuke’s.

He whispered in awe, “He called us his dads.”

“He’s thankful for us,” Yosuke whispered back. “That must mean he likes us!” 

Akira continued, “They are very nice and smart and pretty and handsome and cool.” 

The two of them laughed silently, and Souji buried his face in Yosuke’s shoulder, trying to hold it together.

“I asked them what it means to love someone, because they seem to love each other a whole lot, so if what they told me is true, I think I love them. I like it here, a lot more than the orphanage. They keep asking me what I want for Christmas and then buying me things that they keep hiding all over the house, but I only really want two things. I don’t know if you can do this, God, but I want them to love me, enough so that I can keep living here—I want to spend Christmas with them, and after that too…” 

“We already love you!” Souji cried, nearly tearing the door off its hinges as he burst into Akira’s bedroom.

“Of course we love you!” Yosuke shouted, also rushing to Akira’s side as he sniffled and wiped at his eyes. 

Akira sat up and stared at the two of them curiously. “Really?”

“Yes!” they both cried, flanking him and wrapping him in a tight hug. 

“We love you so much,” Souji whimpered pathetically into Akira’s curls. 

A bit more in control of his emotions, Yosuke pulled back to look Akira in the eyes. “This is your home, Akira—your _permanent_ home, and you’re going to live with us until you’re all grown up and want to move out on your own. But that’s not for a very very long time from now, and until then, you belong right here, with us—with your dads, who love you so, so much. We chose you to be our son, and we’re gonna take care of you and be your family for the rest of your life. This is your place, and we are your people. So from now on, don’t ever worry about not being here anymore, because you’ll be here this Christmas and every Christmas after it. Okay?” 

Yosuke offered his open palm to Akira (who had already adapted to Souji clinging to him and crying all over him), and Akira gingerly reached out and placed his hand in Yosuke’s. 

“Okay,” he said flatly, followed by a single sniff. 

And then he burst into tears. 

Yosuke quickly pulled Akira into his chest, and Souji came with, throwing his arms around both of them. 

“We love you so much,” Yosuke said over and over again, smiling as he gently rocked Akira and rubbed his back. “It’s okay. You’re okay.” 

Once everyone was finally all cried out, Souji asked, “Akira, you said you wanted two things—what was the other thing?”

“More cookies.” 

Souji burst out laughing, followed shortly by Yosuke, and Akira looked confused, but happy. 

“Dad makes the best cookies,” Akira added, looking at Souji. 

Eyes sparkling with determination, Souji suddenly promised, “I will bake you every single type of cookie known to man. I’ll make you so many cookies, your little tummy will explode.”

“Really?” Akira asked, putting both hands on his tummy and looking down at it curiously. “I can fit a lot of cookies in here.”

“You do have a very, uh, _healthy_ appetite. Kinda like your old man here! But maybe not _that_ many cookies,” Yosuke amended. “We wouldn’t want your tummy to actually explode. But we can definitely make a lot! We’ll even decorate some of them together.”

“I would like that,” Akira said, beaming. “Thank you!” 

“You are very welcome, kiddo,” Yosuke said, wiping the residual tears from Akira’s cheeks. “Well, we’ve kept you up long enough. You’ve gotta catch some z’s so when you wake up, it’ll be Christmas!” 

“Oh, okay!” Akira said, diving back under his blanket and squeezing his eyes shut. 

Souji chuckled as he tucked Akira back in, and then the two of them made their way toward the door. 

“Good night, Akira,” Souji said as he pulled the door shut. “And don’t forget—we love you.” 

Akira opened one eye to look at them, and Yosuke repeated with a wink and a finger gun, “Yeah, we love you! Good night!”

Akira lifted his hand to mirror Yosuke’s gesture and stared at his finger gun for a second before pointing it at his dads. “Good night.”

Once the door was shut again, Souji collapsed into Yosuke’s arms, exhausted from all the emotion. 

“He’s so cute, Yosuke. I love him so much. I’m gonna die.” 

“Haha, you’re not gonna die, Partner. If Nanako’s cuteness never killed you, I think you’re gonna be just fine.” 

“Dear God and all the angels!” Akira started again, and the two of them perked up to listen. “Remember when I used to ask you every day for someone nice to adopt me? You did a really good job. Oh, and remember earlier when I said I think I love my dads? I changed my mind; I do love them. I love them a whole lot. That’s all. I hope everyone in heaven has a good Christmas. Good night. Amen.” 

Souji barely held in a pained noise at how cute that was, and Yosuke held Souji there for a while, partially to comfort him and partially to keep him from barreling into Akira’s room again. He swayed a bit as he stood there, rubbing Souji’s back like he had with Akira, and like they had originally planned, they waited there until they heard the sound of Akira’s soft snores. 

“Yosuke? You’re an amazing dad.” 

“You’re not so bad yourself, Mr. Nice Smart Pretty Handsome Cool.” 

“Pfft. You’re all those things too, you know. Now you have to live with _two_ people who think that about you.” 

“Sheesh, I really don’t know how I’m gonna deal with that,” Yosuke said honestly. “But come on, let’s wrap up those last few presents.” 

“Um, it may be more than a few. I, uh, couldn’t really control myself.” 

“Oh no, you too?” Yosuke laughed, taking Souji’s hand and leading him to the living room. “Where’s _your_ stash?” 

“Upper kitchen cabinets. And behind the couch. And in our suitcases.” 

“Suitcases, that’s smart. Mine are under the bed. And behind my clothes in the closet.”

“I also hid some little ones in the back of the spice cabinet.” 

“Haha, that’s where you usually hide _my_ gifts.” 

“You knew about that?” 

“Just because I’m not a chef like you doesn’t mean I don’t throw some spices on my food once in a while.” 

“Oh no. Yosuke…”

“What? What’s wrong?” 

“You just reminded me… I didn’t get you a Christmas gift,” Souji confessed miserably. “I was so busy thinking about Akira, I totally forgot. I’m so sorry. I’ll make it up to you.” 

“Hey, it’s fine. You don’t have to make anything up to me. You got me a son! And you’re doing whatever it takes to make him happy. I couldn’t ask for more than that,” Yosuke said tenderly, running his fingers back through Souji’s hair. “Plus, uh, I didn’t get you anything either. Heh, whoops.” 

They both laughed; even when it came to something like spoiling their kid, they were on the same page. 

“All right, let’s go unearth our gift stashes, I guess,” Yosuke said. “Sounds like we’ve got a lot of work to do.” 

“I believe in us,” Souji said, ready to work all night if that’s what it took.

* * *

When Akira entered the living room on Christmas morning, he was greeted by a Christmas display straight out of a movie, including a mountain of beautifully-wrapped Christmas presents (well, about a quarter of them were a little less than beautifully-wrapped, but Akira appreciated the effort all the same). 

Both of his dads were asleep on the floor amidst a mess of wrapping paper, tape, and ribbon. Souji was sleeping on Yosuke’s shoulder, one hand holding Yosuke’s hand and his other hand loosely holding a pair of scissors. 

Apparently they’d stayed up all night wrapping presents. 

Akira smiled. His dads were too cute. 

He tiptoed over stealthily and managed to slip the scissors out of Souji’s hand without waking him up. Akira wouldn’t want his dad to accidentally hurt himself, so he put the scissors somewhere safe. He picked the penguin and snowman blanket up off the floor and tossed it over the two of them, still managing to not wake them up. 

Then he tiptoed back toward his room, leaving them to get some more well-deserved rest. Opening gifts and eating cookies and spending time with his dads could wait, Akira decided. This _was_ his permanent home, after all. He would be here this Christmas, and every Christmas after it. And so would his dads. 

Before he disappeared back into his room, he made his finger gun and pointed it at his dads, trying to wink like Yosuke but only blinking really hard (he’d have to work on that). 

“And don’t forget—we love you!” he whispered, shooting his finger gun, one shot to the heart for each of them. 

* * *

Akira was ready for a nap. He was full of cookies and hot cocoa, his new red and black plaid jammies were super warm (and so were his dads sitting on either side of him, wearing jammies to match his), and it had taken _hours_ to open all his presents (a black and white cat plush, a detective playset, the new generation of Featherman figures, a step stool, an apron for helping Souji out in the kitchen, a frog hoodie, a DVD box set of his favorite crime drama…)

In addition to all the gifts from his dads, there were a bunch of gifts from other people that Akira hadn’t met yet. Souji had brought out a stack of photo albums and explained who each person was while Akira hugged a giant teddy bear that his ‘Uncle Teddie’ had gotten him. He wasn’t sure where all these uncles and aunts had come from (he’d thought both of his dads had been only children?), but he didn’t mind having more family if they were as nice as his dads. 

“That place is pretty,” Akira said, pointing to a picture in the album Souji was holding. 

“That’s Inaba. That’s where I met Yosuke, and where your Auntie Nanako and Great Uncle Dojima live, and Grandpapa-mura and Grandmama-mura—” 

“Those are my parents,” Yosuke interjected, not wanting to confuse Akira with all the nicknames. “And some of our other friends live there too.” 

Forgetting to be shy again, Akira asked, “Can we go there? Can I meet them?”

Souji and Yosuke looked at each other excitedly. 

“I mean, we do usually spend Christmas in Inaba every year, Akira, but we thought we’d just stay here this year,” Yosuke explained. “But is that what you really want, to go to Inaba?” 

Akira nodded. 

Souji pulled out his phone, and within seconds he was saying, “There’s a train that leaves in two hours…”

“Whoa there, Partner! We don’t have to go immediately!” Yosuke said with a short laugh. “But if you really want to go, kiddo, maybe we could spend New Year’s there this year? Everyone is dying to meet you, and we miss them all a whole lot… Yeah, I’ll have to ask, but I’m sure my parents wouldn’t mind having us even if it’s last minute—” 

“Thank you, Mrs. Hanamura. We’ll see you tomorrow evening. Goodbye now.” 

Souji hung up, looking confused when he found Yosuke gaping at him.

“Partner?! You already called my mom? I only stopped paying attention to you for like three sentences!” 

Souji nodded. “And booked three train tickets for tomorrow morning, since you said we didn’t have to go immediately.” 

“That’s not… what I meant,” Yosuke sighed, but he wasn’t mad about it. “Well, I guess we better clean up and start packing! Oh man, everyone’s gonna be so excited to meet you, Akira! Inaba is great; you’re gonna love it. We’ll have to take you to Junes, and show you the place where I met your dad, and take you to Souji’s uncle’s house… I’ve gotta call everyone and tell them we’re coming!” 

In his excited rambling, Yosuke hadn’t noticed that Akira had fallen asleep, both arms wrapped around his new teddy bear. 

“Wow, he really does go out like a light,” Yosuke observed, poking Akira a bit, who didn’t respond. 

“That’s our boy,” Souji said proudly, shutting the photo album and setting it aside. 

“I’m so excited to go home, Partner. I didn’t think we’d have the chance for a while, but he asked to go there himself!” 

“He’s pretty great.” 

“We did a good job picking a son.” 

“We make a good family,” Souji agreed. 

“I love you,” Yosuke said, looking at Souji over Akira’s head. 

“Love you too,” Souji replied with a smile, leaning over Akira to meet Yosuke, who was leaning towards him too. 

Their brief kiss was interrupted by a groggy: “Me too.” 

They broke apart and looked down at Akira, whose head was tipped back to stare up at them. 

“You love me too, right?” Akira asked, and then he puffed out his cheeks to make it easier for them. 

Both of them laughed and threw their arms around him.

“Of course we do!” 

“Don’t you forget it!” 

They both planted a kiss on each of his cheeks, and Akira giggled, feeling the happiest he had in his whole entire life. 


End file.
